Dartmouth hails its diversity as an element that enriches its educational environment, calling it “one of [its] great natural resources.” The offices, initiatives and programs dedicated to promoting diversity on campus are flashed across marketing and outreach platforms, meant to demonstrate Dartmouth’s commitment to diversity and praise the impact they’ve had on students. At first glance, the demographics of the student body and the institution’s diversity efforts do appear praiseworthy; viewed more closely, though, it is difficult to ignore the unsettling nature of the language used to describe this diversity.

As a loather of the current President of the United States, I was surprised by my ability to find merit in one of Donald Trump’s main policies. While pondering the consequences of American dominance (a favorite activity of mine), I realized that, in a twisted sense, “Making America Great Again” is the answer to my prayers. I am an advocate for the reduction of power of nation-states and the growth of pan-global institutions. I believe that the dominance of one nation should be a fixture of the past and the remains of an old world order.

When the College Republicans welcomed conservative commentator David Horowitz to campus last fall, his talk prompted strong responses from partisan identities at the College. William Reicher ’22 and Vlado Vojdanovski ’22 said they noticed a lack of engagement between disparate political views, inspiring them to create the Dartmouth Political Union — a non-partisan group committed to fostering political discourse.

Fresh ideas may accompany the impending turnover of the Dartmouth Outing Club directorate. In a campus-wide email on Feb. 12, outgoing DOC president John Brady ’19 announced the names of students elected to lead the organization in the coming year. The positions of president, vice president, treasurer and secretary were up for election and have been filled through the end of winter 2020. The new directorate will take over beginning next term.

Whenever I find a poem or story I really love, I make my friends read it to me out loud. Poetry, which relies on the cleverest use of language, is an auditory experience as much as it is a written art. I am reminded of this when I listen to slam poetry. Hearing a piece out loud simply makes the writing more immediate and visceral. Slam poetry was started as a way “to breathe life” into poetry, both by re-invigorating the written word with performance and by functioning as a platform for marginalized voices beyond “social, cultural, political and economic barriers” according to Poetry Slam, Inc. Slam is a venue away from the traditional stuffiness of poetry, which is why it makes sense that the most fertile ground for slam is on the Internet. Both slam and YouTube are young, fresh and inviting to younger generations. The YouTube account “Button Poetry” compiles the most promising and innovative slam poets from the most respected competitions into one accessible platform.

It’s Week Eight, and by now, most of us have settled into a routine ... only for it to all end in a couple of weeks, when we reset with another term. Routines can be habits that we force ourselves to follow, in hopes of being the best versions of ourselves. Carolyn purposefully signed up for an 8:45 a.m. gym class this term, knowing her first class would otherwise start at 2:10 p.m. She also started listening to podcasts while walking around campus rather than blasting electronic music (while the latter is a fitting soundtrack to her life it doesn’t necessarily keep her up to date on the world’s happenings). This term, Nikhita has taken up a habit of waking up earlier than five minutes before her first class starts, with King Arthur Flour pastries being her lure to go do work in the library in the mornings. She has also started frequenting the gym more often as a way to blow off some steam, because sometimes winter term just becomes too much. At the same time, however, old habits die hard. Routines can also be actions that we guiltily follow, but do nothing to change. Carolyn admits to having recently been hooked onto caffeine, and Nikhita woefully regrets her nail-biting ways. What are the routines that we follow on campus? Is reading the Mirror every Wednesday part of yours?

The scene at play is familiar: you and your friends approach Webster Avenue, shivering in a thin fracket, wondering where you’ll hide said fracket and casually planning the order in which you’ll visit the various fraternities. An underlying hum of music reverberates from the various house basements into the night, and as you get closer, the familiar smell of Keystone Light curls under your nose. Perhaps you find yourself standing on the steps to Alpha Chi Alpha or Chi Gamma Epsilon, hoping to play some pong or slap cup, or maybe you’re pushing your way through the crowd to get into Beta Alpha Omega, eager to dance away the inhibitions created by a stressful institution. Regardless of what you seek, nightlife at Dartmouth has become invariably tied to the Greek system. The situation poses an interesting question: how do Dartmouth students spend their nights, and does nightlife even exist outside the confines of Webster Avenue?

It was a Sunday around 8 p.m., and I was walking out of the Class of 1953 Commons, the dining hall known to Dartmouth students as “Foco,” with a friend after a warm dinner. As we were about to step outside, she paused and exclaimed, “Oh my God, what?! They’re playing ‘Colder Weather.’ Why is the Foco playlist going to make me cry?”

If you know me or have read anything I’ve written for The Dartmouth, you know that I am a true academic. Therefore, I am clearly incredibly qualified give you definitive summaries of all of Dartmouth’s study spaces. Strap in folks.

How long does it take to break a bad habit? According to the European Journal of Social Psychology, it takes 66 days for the mind and body to accustom to meaningful, lasting change. Sixty-six days?! That’s an entire term at school here. We didn’t shoot out the womb addicted to our cell phones or playing pong. So what gives?

You can take naps anywhere, from the Tower Room in Baker Library on Sunday to your friends’ room while you are out on a Saturday night. They can be long or short — and depending how you look at it, helpful or harmful.

If you know me at all, you might know that my favorite time of day is right when I wake up in the morning — something that not a lot of people, especially college students, would agree with me on. For me, there’s something so exciting and refreshing about the early morning: the crisp morning air, a warm, invigorating shower and the prospect of a yummy breakfast ahead. Hopefully, as I take you through a typical morning of mine — a Monday versus a Saturday, because they’re … well, pretty different — you’ll find a tip or two that’ll bring a little more sparkle and joy to your mornings here at Dartmouth.

While many universities require students to take classes in a second language, Dartmouth is unique with its use of language “drill” classes. These classes serve as a supplement to students’ normal language courses and are taught by a fellow Dartmouth student — a drill instructor — who is fluent in the language. Drill emphasizes repetition, with the instructor repeatedly cueing individual students to articulate sentences with slight changes each time. Students must pay close attention to the repeated sentences in order to understand exactly what they will have to say when the instructor selects them to speak. One of the primary goals of drill is to acquaint students with conjugating verbs and forming complete sentences on the fly by repeating phrases.